Try easy car configurations, include most by default. Set down prices to get volume. Prioritise customer satisfaction more than margins :)
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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Remember the whole BMW heated seats subscription thing? That was them trying to reduce configurations and price: instead of having to stock two configurations of every model/colour/engine etc combination, one with and one without heated seats, they installed them on all of them by default and you would have been able to either later buy the package like you used to (~500€) or only pay the subscription whenever you wanted heated seats (I.e in the winter).
IIRC Tesla does a similar thing with batteries, they use the same battery, but the cheaper model has the capacity and power draw restricted. One actual reason for it is that the shallower, gentles discharges mean less wear and fewer warranty claims, and therefore they can offer it for cheaper.
It's almost like the C-suites didn't actually go to school.
They went to some fancy private school and haven't had contact with someone earning less than 6 digits until their thirties.
I don't know how all the western car manufacturers dropped the ball so hard on EVs.
Yes, the batteries were always expensive, but VW frankly didn't see to even try to innovate on EVs, so I think this is largely self-inflicted pain by management reluctant to try anything new.
I'd say it's both self-imposed incompetence and bullying from Trump and his oil barons.
For decades though they didn’t bother to invest when they could have. For a decade since Tesla proved there was a viable a market they didn’t do much more than token effort (ugly plastic Evs, not innovating in the tech at all)
As much as I hate Elon Musk at least he did get the EV industry legitimized.
They had to choose between short term profits and being relevant by 2030. Shareholders picked the first option.
What are you talking about...VW has made EV Golf and IDs for years now. They are overpriced and unreliable. This isn't about EVs, it's about people sick of buying shitty cars on the bullshit German Quality branding.
The ID.Buzz is in my opinion the posterchild for "we have to make EV look different" era of design.
The Buzz and the early BMW i3 that stand out to me as ugliest cars of the decade. Cybertruck currently holds the throne, with the Ferrari Luce biting at it's heals (for looking like Ferrari hired Homer Simpson)
On top of being significantly more expensive to buy, they're also more expensive to repair, require service more often (which is also more expensive per service) and VWs warranty is a ridiculous feeble 2 years.
Remember when the entire Volkswagen organization conspired to engineer the bypassing of emissions testing?
Wow, what a bunch of cock sucking assholes. Maybe they shouldn’t exist anyways.
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R&D is an ugly word in contemporary (non-Chinese) corporate culture